The Day of the Bullies
by Tanith Panic
Summary: A trip back in time to the original Fierce Brave Gang. This is a short 'Special Edition' and will be around three chapters long. Mainly explores the father/son relationship between Dylan and Lofty, as created by Trekkiel.
1. Chapter 1

This is a short Fierce Brave Gang Christmas special, it'll probably need more than one chapter. Will be returning to 'An offer they can't refuse' soon.

A/N Set around the time the infants would be in their last year before Juniors, which means they'd still be quite young. Characters in this story aren't necessarily the same as they are in Casualty or Holby. Again, this is a mix of the separate AU's that Trekkiel and myself have created.

Dylan wasn't able to take Lofty to school as usual one morning because his leg, which occasionally still pained him, was driving him crazy. He called Mrs Beauchamp and told her he couldn't do his classes that day, then took the little boy to the street just beyond the houseboat, which was about as far as he could manage, hoping to catch Robyn and her mother coming by. No such luck, but he saw Marie Claire on her way to school. Marie Claire was Miss Honey's assistant, and could be a little absent-minded at times.

"My leg's hurting me. Please can you take Ben to school?" he asked her.

"Of course! Come on, sweetheart."

Lofty slipped his hand in Marie-Claire's trustingly.

She walked him nearly to the school gates and then said:

"Benjie, I forgot. My favourite magazine's out today. Can you cross the road on your own and get to school? Then I can run to Sainsrose."

Ben was scared to cross the road and he didn't like being called Benjie. But he didn't think he was old enough to cheek Marie Claire, so he nodded.

Some big boys he hadn't seen before came along.

"Oi, curly bonce! Those sweets in your pocket yours?"

"I'm going to share them with my friends. But you can have one each."

He took out the bag. The tallest of the big boys snatched out a sweet, threw one to his mate, and then flung the bag into the snow face-downwards.

"Loser!" chorused the lads, Jay Faldren and Jimmy Powell as they swaggered off.

Lofty had been told never to pick up things from the ground, but he mourned the loss of a treat to share. And that road still scared him.

"Hello, Ben! Mr Keogh not coming in today?"

"Hello, Miss Honey! No, his leg hurts. Marie-Claire took me as far as she could but she's gone shopping."

Miss Honey pulled a face and took Lofty's hand.

"You walk into school with me, then. I'll get you across that road. We'll be fine if we use that crossing."

He felt a lot better when he got to school. Mrs Beauchamp had a wonderful surprise. The kids had felt a bit disappointed because the New Theatre was doing 'Peter Pan' but didn't need any more children. Ethan had wept about it for most of the previous night.

"We're finishing early this afternoon because we're going to the New Theatre."

"I don't want" grizzled Ethan, "They took our parts away!"

"No Ethan, they just didn't have any parts for kids this time. But you listen! We're going to watch the show… and then we'll perform it ourselves for our Summer play!"

Ethan was mollified and wanted to go to the show after all. He was even happier when Cal was allowed to join them, although Cal had to write about the trip when he went back to Juniors the next day.

The kids adored the play and couldn't wait to start rehearsing the Summer one, but Mrs Beauchamp told them they'd have to wait till New Year to find out who had the parts. Cal was sorry he couldn't be in this one, he'd got his eye on being Captain Hook. Only one part had been cast… Snap, the beloved Gang Mascot, had to be The Crocodile or there was no justice.

Lofty was taken home by Mrs Beauchamp herself, as she wanted to look in on Dylan anyway. She had a discreet word with him about not asking Marie Claire again.

Next day Lofty was playing with the Gang after school when he saw the two big lads coming. He didn't want to be a Big Snitch so he kept quiet about the sweets, even though he'd had to buy a Gang Gift all over again and now had no pocket money left.

But the Big Lads had the friendliest smiles on their faces.

"Hi, sport. We want a word with you."

Jimmy turned to Robyn with a big warm smile. Robyn was completely lost; Jimmy was a nice-looking boy.

"We're going to show him where there's a nice sledge you can all go on, it's in the school grounds but only we know about it. He'll be able to show you tomorrow because I bet you guys have to be home before dark?"

"Yes, we do."

"Well don't worry, beautiful, we'll walk Ben home. Okay?"

Robyn was high as a kite at being called beautiful so she just said:

"See you tomorrow morning then, Ben, we'll come early to get some sledging in!"

"We wanted to show you the sledge because we were rotten to you yesterday and wanted to say 'sorry.' You forgive us, don't you?"

The trusting little boy shook hands with them both. They had such nice smiles today, and everybody was bad sometimes. He walked with them until he came to Big Mac's hut. Big Mac had already begun his Christmas break so he wasn't around.

"Big Mac's been painting up the sledge for you kids, and it's dry now. You just look at this…"

He opened the door and Lofty, full of excitement, ran in.

The door slammed, the key turned, and Jimmy mocked:

"Silly little curly bonce, caught out again! We're going to leave you in this hut till it's black dark. And guess what? A boy died in this hut and his ghost comes back to get kids when it's dark. He'll be after you. See you, sucker!"

Jimmy and Jay ran off, leaving a terrified little boy sobbing and cringing in the corner, waiting for the ghost to get him.

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	2. Chapter 2

Dylan was distraught when Lofty didn't come home that evening. Robyn had called him to let him know that some kind lads from the Juniors were going to walk him home, so he'd not worried too much. But now it was half past five and there was no Lofty. He couldn't stand it any more and called Mrs Beauchamp.

"I saw Ben walking with two boys from the Juniors; they seemed very friendly lads" she said, on the verge of tears.

At six o' clock Dylan phoned the police.

Lofty, frozen and crying with fear, had finally sobbed himself to sleep in the hut.

"Good film wasn't it?" Jay enthused as Jimmy's dad dropped him off at his door.

"Brilliant. Didn't expect your dad to take us, did you?"

"No" Jimmy admitted. The film had been great, with aliens and robots and explosions. Jimmy would have preferred the bad guys to have won for once but never mind.

At around eight o'clock when he was sipping his hot chocolate, he suddenly remembered.

Hell, that little kid from Mixed Infants was still locked in that shed.

He knew he should go to his dad and tell him what he'd done, but if he did there'd be hell to pay.

Somebody must have heard the kid snivelling and got him out by now, surely?

He carried on sipping and reading his comic.

The police had gone over everything again, and had called at Robyn's house, patiently questioning her.

"They- they looked kind. They said they were sorry they'd been mean to Ben earlier and they were going to take him somewhere to show him a sledge" the little girl sobbed.

"It's all right, Robyn, nobody's cross with you" said the kind policewoman, "You've helped us a lot."

Dylan's mind was working overtime. Supposing the boys had dumped Ben and somebody like that b*st*rd in Disneyland Resort had found him? What if – he couldn't stop the thought stabbing at his mind – Ben was lying dead in a deserted building? Supposing he'd tried to make his way home himself and as it was so icy by the canal, he'd fallen in and drowned? No. Please, no."

"Mr Keogh, maybe we could use your dog? If you give Dervla something of Ben's to sniff, she might be able to help us trace him."

Dylan looked down at Dervla, snoozing contentedly on the rug. He hated to wake her, but…

Dervla's tail was soon wagging at the thought of an unexpected walk. She wasn't sure why her dad had put that jumper near her face but that was okay. The small human her dad had brought home smelt nice, like pine shampoo and bubble bath.

Mrs Beauchamp and Miss Freeman joined the search, and even Mr Jordan from the sixth form college.

They tried the huts in the Haunted Playground, being careful to shine their torches inside first in case of any angry squatters or vagrants attacking them.

They looked by the canal, praying that it wouldn't be a case of dragging it the next day.

"Is it worth even trying the school?" asked the policeman, whose complexion was now pale.

"Yes! Please don't give up!" Dylan begged. He made a vow to himself. If Ben was found alive and well, he'd never let anybody take him into school. Even if his leg was killing him, he'd get a taxi next time.

Cal and Ethan, who'd overheard Mrs Beauchamp, were crying together. Poor Lofty fell over easily and in this weather it could happen a lot. Had another bad man snatched him?

"If he comes back safe he can cuddle Snap all the time" wailed Ethan. Cal tried to focus and be a good big brother.

"Course he'll come back safe! Look" Cal wiped his nose hard, "Fetch your book. I'll read to you about Robbo the Robot for a bit. Go on, I'll do all the voices."

"L-Lofty liked robots."

"Fetch that book!"

Lofty had woken up. The dark was terrible and he couldn't feel his hands and feet. He was so cold it really hurt. And it was the time when ghosts came for little boys.

Then he heard them, calling him.

"Ben! Ben!"

He tried to speak but it came out as a terrified croak:

"Please don't kill me! Please!"

None of the people gathered round the school grounds heard him.

But dogs have extra hearing power. Dervla began to bark.

"He's in the hut!"

"Whoever put him in there had the sense to leave the key in, at least."

"Ben? Sweetheart, it's Mrs Beauchamp. Your dad's here to take you home."

It wasn't a ghost. It was Mrs Beauchamp.

"I'm in here…."

His tiny voice hardly sounded, but again Dervla knew. She barked and howled like a trooper.

Dylan opened the door and ran to him.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I didn't run away, honest, two boys told me where there was a nice sledge to play on then they locked me in and ran off. And…" Lofty's voice was filled with shame, of all things, "I- I did a wee in there."

"I'd have done more than a wee, son! Don't you worry" the kind policeman said. He held Dylan back.

"I know you want to hug him but he's in a lot of pain from the cold. But let him see you."

Lofty smiled weakly. The ghost hadn't come for him, and his dad was here. He wondered why Miss Freeman was sobbing so much when the policewoman made the phone call. Then he felt how badly his arms and legs ached, and how cold he was.

"Am I going to die?" he asked.

And then Dylan, turning away, sobbed like a baby.

Cal put down the phone.

"Mum Beauchamp and Miss Freeman are coming home. They've found Ben. He's got to go in hospital because he's got hypo… chondria" Cal tried to remember the word.

He wanted to cry, so instead he flung down the book.

"Right, I've done me duty. No more Robbo tonight!"

Ethan wailed.

Lofty had to spend a few days in the hospital and wasn't allowed to go back to school till New Year. The Gang came round to the houseboat and brought some lovely presents with them. Robyn was afraid that Mr Keogh would be angry with her but he hugged her and thanked her for remembering so much.

Meanwhile, Mr Harper, head of the Juniors, had all his children in assembly and explained the situation. A small boy from the Mixed Infants had been bullied and it was two Junior boys who'd done it. The boy had been very brave and would be fine, but had gone through a horrible time.

Cal felt sick that somebody from his school could have hurt Lofty. He didn't have long to wait to find out who it was.

"Going on about the kid as if he was some kind of saint" he heard Jay sneering loudly, "I tell you what, I wish I'd locked him in that hut myself."

Cal turned round on him in a fury.

"Mr Harper didn't say anything about a hut, just about the boy being bullied", he yelled.

Jay went for him but the Juniors' gym teacher, Miss Andrews, had overheard. Soon she had Jay and Cal in an armlock.

"Cal, you calm down and go to class. You're not in trouble."

She shook Jay as hard as she dared.

"You! You're coming to Mr Harper!"

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	3. Chapter 3

Special Three

Mr Harper knew just who Jay's partner-in-crime was. He had both boys in his office separately and asked them questions. Jay finally broke down and Jimmy was caught out in a lie. The two boys were expelled that day, as Mr Harper had a zero tolerance towards bullying.

"You sat there and knew – you KNEW – a little kid was freezing to death while you were having fun in the cinema! Don't look for Christmas presents, Jimmy, because there won't be any. And don't think you'll take it out of the little lad when you're out because you're grounded indefinitely. GET IT?"

Jimmy looked pleadingly at his mum after hearing his dad's tirade.

"Don't look at me; you're not my son any more. We're going to your old school to apologise for everything you did to that little boy. I'm ashamed to be your mother, Jimmy."

Jay's mother – his dad wasn't at home any more- responded in a more basic fashion. She clipped her son hard across the ear.

"I'll tell the child cruelty people!" screamed Jay.

"Go ahead. They'll love to know what you did to Ben. Now get out of my sight!"

It was a very quiet Christmas for Lofty but he was just so happy to be back home that he didn't care. Besides he knew if he did everything the doctors at the hospital had told him to do, he'd get better sooner and then he'd find out if he'd got a nice part in Peter Pan the next year. His dad wouldn't let him get up on Christmas Day at first, telling him he was decorating. Lofty thought this was strange for Christmas Day but then hoped Dervla wouldn't run around and get in his dad's way while he was busy.

Finally:

"You can get up now, Ben, and have a late breakfast. I suppose it's Brunch really but I hate that word!"

Ben came into the front room. His dad hadn't been decorating, he'd been setting something up. A computer!

"I know I said I wouldn't have one in the house, Ben, but this is a Christmas present for both of us. I'll sit and show you how to work it and we'll have an hour on it every night, okay?"

"Oh Dad… it's awesome!"

Dylan could have wept. Lofty didn't once say "Don't I get a present all to myself?" The lad was over the moon just to share.

"Well seeing as that's between us I suppose you'd better have this. Just for you."

Lofty opened the gift. Two of the latest robots from that new film that had come out!

"Look inside that package again before you take it to the recycling bin."

He looked. Two tickets for the film!

"Oh Dad, that's magical!"

"I'll probably go to sleep in the middle of it, mind" Dylan teased.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I couldn't go to the shops to get you anything" Lofty almost sounded casual, then chuckled:

"But Robyn could and I asked her to get you this."

The jumper Dylan had been admiring.

He grabbed Ben in a bear hug.

"Ben, you're the best thing that ever happened to me, you know that?"

School began again in the New Year and this time Dylan was able to take Lofty right to the door, even though the threat of the two bullies was over.

Mrs Beauchamp wanted to see him in her office. He could see Miss Freeman pottering about in the Stationery cupboard but he didn't mind that.

But he did mind Mrs Beauchamp's news.

"Ben, I'm so sorry. I thought about all the parts for 'Peter Pan' and there isn't one for you."

"C-cause I was ill? But I'm better now."

"I know, Ben, but other people have been disappointed too. There just wasn't room on the stage for all the kids that wanted to be in the show this time."

Ben said something very un-Lofty like. Putting his hands on his hips in an unconscious echo of his dad, he said:

"Well, it's not fair or right."

Mrs Beauchamp wanted to laugh; there was a faint noise from the cupboard too.

Then she said:

"So we're doing two plays this Summer. Now do you remember a story from the Bible about a boy called Joseph?"

"He had lots of brothers, and… he got a coat and his brothers hated him and chucked him down a pit, but he didn't die and became a Prince in Egypt."

Miss Freeman couldn't help it. She applauded so loudly that she fell out of the cupboard.

Lofty made to go and help her, but Mrs Beauchamp put her hand on his shoulder.

"She's fine, the silly lady. Now you like to sing, don't you, because this is a musical that kids in schools are allowed to do."

"A musical!"

Lofty loved musicals on TV.

"Am I a brother?" he asked, almost beside himself with excitement.

"No… you're Joseph. Because Joseph was bullied, wasn't he, and we were so sad at what happened to you that we wanted to give you a nice surprise."

Ben felt mean he'd said it wasn't fair, but Mrs Beauchamp knew that. She smiled at him.

"Ethan was so jealous he almost didn't want to play Michael in 'Peter Pan'!"

It was the day before the big break-up for Summer holidays. 'Peter Pan' had been brilliant the night before; Jeff had been a wonderful Captain Hook while Jess was a very pretty Wendy. Ethan had made the audience go 'aaaaah' when they saw him as Michael. And when Mr Fairhead, cleverly blacked out by a curtain, made Snap run across the 'ocean' to get Captain Hook, the audience cheered themselves almost hoarse.

Ben had butterflies all day and had to have one of Miss Honey's famous Smoothies for lunch. Now it was five to five and 'Joseph' would begin any minute. He heard his music and walked out, with the toy sheep under his arm, and began to sing:

"I closed my eyes…"

The applause was almost deafening. Dylan, not wanting to be a stage-struck dad, stayed in his seat until Ms Chao prodded him from behind.

"Stand up, Misery Guts!"

Dylan did. Lofty could hardly believe it; the entire audience were on their feet except for the very old ones. Cal – Cal had bought a ticket for this as well as 'Peter Pan'! – was cheering and whooping.

Father and son's hearts were full. It had been a bad winter but Spring and Summer had changed all that.

The nightmare was over and the good times were back.

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End file.
